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Information provided by Theflyonthewall.com

Wednesday's noteworthy upgrades include:

• Adobe (ADBE) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill
• Ball Corp. (BLL) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at RW Baird
• CEMEX (CX) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays
• Sonic (SONC) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley
• LINN Energy (LINE) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at Howard Weil

 

By Chris Ciaccia

 

Adobe Systems (ADBE) posted on Tuesday exceptionally strong second-quarter earnings, led by the strength in its transition to becoming a cloud computing company (TheStreet).

 

Adobe, which now offers its Creative suite of products differently than it previously had, announced that its Creative Cloud subscriptions hit 700,000 customers. The company also announced its Adobe Marketing Cloud bookings grew 25% year over year, resulting in the company beating earnings expectations. Adobe earned 36 cents a share on a non-GAAP basis, and generated $1.01 billion in revenue. Analysts were expecting the company to earn 33 cents a share on $1.01 billion in revenue.

 

Stock Traders Daily has issued a special report on monetary policy, outlining the influence of the recent combined efforts of the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve over both perceived and real domestic liquidity. 

Specifically, we focus on the perceived liquidity on the heels of the popular $85 billion monthly bond buying program the Federal Open Market Committee initiated last year.

Because the velocity of money has not increased proportional to the stimulus programs enacted in recent years, virtually the sole benefit of these programs has been added liquidity to the U.S. economy. However, and often unnoticed by the general public, the efforts of the Federal Reserve are largely offset by the simultaneous bond issuance and other operations of the U.S. Treasury.

 

By Chuck Carlson, DRIP Investor

The search for yield has pushed many investors into a number of investment "alternatives" to stocks. One popular investment alternative that has seen huge investor interest is Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs).

Because of its structure, an MLP does not pay income taxes. Rather, income, depreciation, and expenses are "passed through" to partners (i.e. unit holders) based on their ownership stakes. The unit holders, in turn, are responsible for their own tax reporting.

MLPs distribute the bulk of their cash flows to partners. Thus, yields tend to run well above those of common stocks, which is the major attraction of these investments.

 

How in heck can you tighten or taper when copper's just getting pounded and steel prices can't hold up? How can we think about tapering when Airgas (ARG), which has its fingers in every single pie says non-residential construction is very weak and Terex (TEX) agrees? How do you start tightening when Europe's still in flux and China seems to be going down fast?

 

How do we base the end of QE3 on homebuilding when we didn't get good homebuilding numbers Tuesday?

 

For a company that many had given up for dead after some serious customer service snafus, Netflix (NFLX) sure has rebounded. Its stock has surged more than 145% this year. It could move even higher as investors bet that the streaming video company's investments in original content with DreamWorks (DWA) and others pay off. Or Netflix could buckle under the increasing costs it's paying to content producers. 

By Chad Tracy

The CEO of the world's largest copper mining company bought 1 million shares of his company's stock at $31.16 per share on June 3.

At the time of this writing, shares are trading around $29.32.
 
Now, I don't want to suggest blindly following the investment moves of every industry insider. But when a CEO makes a $31 million purchase of his company's stock, which is trading for the cheapest it's been since 2008 -- I think a closer look is in order.

Regular readers may already know that mining stocks have not fared as well as the broader market so far this year.  

By Matthew Kanterman

U.S. equity futures traded slightly higher ahead of the much anticipated Federal Reserve policy statement Wednesday. Investors are most concerned with possible Fed tapering and its revised economic forecast. And with rumors of Chairman Ben Bernanke stepping down, all eyes will be on the Fed's news conference.

In other news, Japan's exports grew 10.1% from a year ago in May with exports to the U.S. rising over 16%.

The president of Cyprus has asked the European creditors to revise the terms of its bailout as the nation's banks face a cash crunch. The restructuring of one of the nation's largest banks is taking longer than expected, causing a short-term liquidity crunch in the island nation.

 

By David Sterman

There is nothing more frustrating than finding a seemingly attractive young company, only to discover that its shares have already risen 800% in the past seven months. Then again, seeing that stock subsequently lose half its value in a matter of weeks suggests that perhaps you didn't miss out on "the next Apple (AAPL)" after all.

It has been that kind of roller-coaster ride for investors in Uni-Pixel (UNXL), which is either widely admired or widely reviled, depending on whom you ask. The company, which has yet to generate revenue from operations, will eventually make its investors a lot of money or prove to be a spectacular bust, depending on how the next three to six months play out.  

This is a market that's buying the news, hopes and speculation that the Federal Reserve is not ready yet to make major changes in its interest-rate policy.

But if traders are wrong, watch out.

Stocks rose for a second day in a row Tuesday, and the Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) finished up 138 points to 15,318, its second day of gains of 100 points or more.  The close was about 91 points below its peak close of 15,409.39, set on May 28.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) and Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) also moved higher in a broad rally. Crude oil closed above $98 a barrel for the first time since September. 

By Simone Foxman

 

Is it time to slow down high-frequency trading? A new study says yes (.pdf). Despite arguments it provides liquidity in markets, researchers from the University of Michigan argue that it harms the average investor.

 

Although the term "high-frequency trading" (HFT) is often used loosely to describe trading at high speeds by computers, in this case we mean something specific: high-volume arbitrage activity, which plays on small, temporary differences in price between, say, a security trading both on the New York Stock Exchange and DirectEdge.

 

By Zacks Equity Research

 

Midstream energy service provider, Enterprise Products Partners, L.P. (EPD), and Western Gas Partners, LP (WES) have teamed up to hold natural gas liquid (NGL) fractionation trains 7 and 8.

Currently, both trains are under construction at Enterprise’s complex in Mont Belvieu, Texas and are expected to commence commercial operations in the fourth quarter of 2013. Trains 7 and 8 are designed to fractionate around 170,000 barrels per day (bpd) of NGLs.

Enterprise holds the majority ownership interest of 75% in the joint venture (JV), while Western Gas retains the remaining 25% stake. The latest JV is also the third midstream energy infrastructure project in which Enterprise has partnered with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC) and its affiliates.

 

By Louis Bedigian 

By Richard Moroney, Dow Theory Forecasts

In a market where virtually everything has risen, where should investors look for the next move? By splitting S&P 500 ($INX) industries into defensive and cyclical camps, we found that cyclicals offer richer fields to plow for new investment ideas.

Below, we review four cyclical stocks that could be positioned for strong gains in the second half of 2013: BE Aerospace (BEAV), BlackRock (BLK), DirecTV (DTV), and Qualcomm (QCOM). Each are long-term "buys" on our recommended Focus List.